Immigration not just a fed issue

State lawmakers debut bills

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2007

Enrique RangelGlobe-News Austin Bureau

Editor's note: As the Texas Legislature prepares to tackle a variety of issues, the Amarillo Globe-News examines proposed legislation that, if approved, would impact the Panhandle and the South Plains. Today we start the occasional series with what is shaping up as one of the main issues of the 80th session: illegal immigration and border security.

CACTUS - Rito Hernandez and four nephews, all of whom work at the Swift & Co. slaughterhouse, have no idea what the Texas Legislature is or does.

"We don't know anything about politics or government," the 45-year-old native of Torreon, Mexico, said in Spanish as he walked into his aging mobile home to escape the bitter cold. "We came here just to work so that we can support our families."

Hernandez and his nephews admitted they came here illegally but would not discuss their current immigration status.

Some lawmakers in Austin view the estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants in Texas, who are mainly from Mexico and other Latin American countries, as a social and financial burden to the state and want to stop it.

They have introduced some bills that - if approved - would restrict the immigrants' access to basic public services such as health care and education, tax the money they wire home and require the state to evaluate the impact the immigrants have on the Texas economy.

Most of those bills were introduced in mid-November during a period known as pre-filing and four weeks before former State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn released a 21-page study showing that despite more than $1 billion that Texas spends annually on its illegal immigrant population, the undocumented work force pumps nearly $18 billion into the state's economy.

Immigration is a federal issue, but Gov. Rick Perry has said that Washington has not lived up to its responsibility, particularly on border security, and the state must tackle the issue.

State Rep. Leo Berman, for example, has introduced House bills 28 and 29, which would deny public services to U.S.-born children whose parents are here illegally and tax 8 percent of the amount an immigrant wires to Mexico or to Central and South America. The Tyler Republican defends his bills on grounds that Texans are fed up with the money the state spends on illegal immigrants.

However, starting with Perry, many Republicans say that even though they don't give those bills much of a chance to become law, the proposed legislation could trigger a spirited debate. In Perry's view, bills such as Berman's are not only divisive but unconstitutional and would not survive court challenges.

"How can you pass something that is unconstitutional?" Perry said in a recent interview.

Moreover, "it's an issue that lends itself to demagoguery on both sides" of the aisle, said State Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, who does not intend to file any immigration or border security bills but, like many of his colleagues, will be closely watching the debate.

Some pro-immigrant bills, too

On the other side of the coin, some legislators have filed or plan to file pro-immigrant legislation.

State Rep. Roberto Alonzo, for example, has filed House bills 249 and 256, which would allow the Texas Department of Public Safety to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants who furnish a valid ID from the country they are from.

In the view of the Dallas Democrat, this would allow the state government to keep track of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

"We should see it as a security issue," Alonzo said of his proposed legislation. "This way we know who they are and where they live."

However, for Alonzo and other legislators from both parties, as well as Perry, the only way to avoid a divisive immigration and border security debate is to pass bills that the vast majority of the legislators, as well as the public, can live with.

"I do not believe it is realistic to deport 12 million people already here illegally," Perry said in his inaugural speech last week in reference to the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the United States. "We have to understand why millions of people come here and why many more have died trying."

Alonzo and other immigrant rights advocates in and outside the Legislature think Perry is right on target.

"I am glad to hear those comments from the governor," Alonzo said. "That follows the line of good Christian values."

Perry, who made illegal immigration and border security one of the key issues of his re-election campaign but opposes the southern border fence that the federal government authorized last year, wants the Legislature to approve $100 million to beef up law enforcement along Texas' border with Mexico.

David Swinford, a key player

That's where State Rep. David Swinford comes in.

At Perry's suggestion, the Dumas Republican is working on legislation that would address border security. Like the governor, Swinford says it is unrealistic to deport the 1.4 million illegal immigrants living in Texas or the estimated 11 million or 12 million nationwide.

For Swinford, like for some of his fellow legislators from the Panhandle and the South Plains, the issue of illegal immigration is a major concern.

Cactus, for example, is in his 87th District and in Amarillo Republican Kel Seliger's Senate District 31. And as both legislators know, the Swift plant is the lifeblood of the predominantly Hispanic town.

Equally important, the immigrant population continues to grow, not just in Cactus but all over the Panhandle and the South Plains.

For instance, in State Rep. Joe Heflin's 85th District more than 40 percent of the population is Hispanic and in Hale County, the most populated of the 16 counties the Crosbyton Democrat represents, more than half of the nearly 40,000 residents have Spanish-surnames.

The immigrants work in meat plants, dairy farms, restaurants, hotels and other occupations vital to the economy of the region.

"That's why we should be very careful with this issue," Heflin said.

Regardless of what happens in Austin, the Hernandez clan and other Cactus residents do not plan to leave town, despite last month's massive immigration raid at the Swift plant.

"I am not going back to Mexico except to see my wife and children once a year," Hernandez said after having worked the morning shift. "This may be hard work but it's the only work I've done for more than 16 years and it pays me what I need to support my family."

His $10.80-an-hour job is to saw off animal carcasses, more than three times what he could earn in Mexico. And like his nephews, with whom he shares the small mobile home, Hernandez says he tries to stay healthy and out of trouble so that he doesn't have to seek medical care at a hospital or have contact with police.

Jorge Gonzales, one of Hernandez's nephews, who at 24 is already a six-year veteran at the meat plant, is even more determined to stay in Cactus. Unlike his uncle, Gonzalez is single and except for visiting his parents, he does not feel as obligated to return to Mexico each year as Hernandez does.

"I may change my mind later but for now, I think I will probably stay here and start a family, like many others have done," Gonzalez said. "I don't have much of a future but it's much better than what I would have in Mexico."